M A I N   N E W S

I was arrested, says Zaffarwal
Our Correspondent

Amritsar, April 12
Khalistan Commando force Chief Wassan Singh Zaffarwal today denied that he had surrendered, saying that he had been arrested. Answering questions of mediapersons at the police officers’ mess here, he claimed that he was not involved in any murder case but was here to live life like an ordinary citizen.

Even after persistent queries about his reaction to the Khalistan movement which he once spearheaded, he maintained silence and was whisked away by the police in a gypsy escorted by the IG, Border Range, Mr A.P. Pandey.

Senior officers brought the dreaded militant to the conference following requests from mediapersons. Zaffarwal seemed composed in a white long kurta-pyjama and a yellow “patka”. However, after a few minutes, the police drove him away.

The version of eywitnesses who saw the “stage-managed” drama of his arrest in front of the bus stand last evening, was at variance with the police handout given to the Press today morning. Talking to TNS, a taxi driver said a maroon Sumo stopped in front of a dhaba. Its occupants walked inside the dhaba and ordered a soft drink. Some 15 minutes later, a few more persons arrived in a white Sumo and took “wanted persons” in police custody.

Mr Pandey, however, denied the version of the witnesses and said the police had information that Zaffarwal would reach the city as he had boarded a bus in Jalandhar last evening.

The SSP, Majitha, Mr Lok Nath Angra, said he was not able to confirm the arrest of Zaffarwal to this correspondent last night as the identity had not been confirmed.

This was at about 9.30 p.m. last night. Mr Harish Kumar, SP, Operations, however, told The Tribune today that he had confirmed the identity of the arrested person at about 5.30 p.m. yesterday.

Zaffarwal had not contacted his family during his entire stay in Punjab, when according to the police, his main motive was to live happily with his family.

Police personnel accompanied Zaffarwal in an open jeep. Surprisingly, he was not handcuffed and he did not look perturbed. He echoed the words of the IG when he said: “I was arrested. I did not come to surrender.” He repeated this twice.

On a question what brought him to India he said: “Time and circumstances”.

Meanwhile, the Dal Khalsa (a fundamentalist organisation) spokesman, Mr Kanwarpal Singh, said in a statement that the “arrest drama” enacted by the government, the police and Zaffarwal was eyewash. 

Zaffarwal was remanded in police remand until April 20 by the Baba Bakala Ilaqa Magistrate today.Mr Pandey revealed that Zaffarwal arrived in Amritsar on a Turkmenistan flight at 2.30 a.m. on March 9 on a forged passport in the name of Charanjit Singh of Kalasangla (Kapurthala).

A day later, he stayed at Anandpur Sahib from there he proceeded to Fatehgarh Sahib gurdwara and later to Gurdwara Alamgir. He returned to Anandpur Sahib to take a bus to Jalandhar and continued to Amritsar.

While he was at the dhaba, police sleuths apprehended him. “No bus ticket was found on him and he was carrying no weapons or any poisonous substance for consumption. Also, he did not resist his arrest,” the IG stated.

Wassan’s family looks forward to reunion
Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

Zaffarwal (Gurdaspur), April 12
This entire village has hailed the arrest of Khalistan Commando Force chief Wassan Singh Zaffarwal. His family members too are happy as they feel that now the day is not far off when he would join them after 16 long years.

Wassan’s three children, six nephews and nieces and parents claim that he had never been in touch with him since 1984. It was only through one of their distant relatives they had come to know about the intention of the one of the most wanted persons in Punjab to return to his motherland and face the law of the land after surrendering before the police about four months back.

The family dubbed newspaper reports that Wassan had a hotel in Zurich as “propaganda” by some vested interests. Also, there were a few takers to the “arrest” theory of the police.

“It is good that he has been arrested. At least, he will be able to rejoin us,” was the first reaction of Wassan’s wife Darshan Kaur and his brother Sukhwinder Singh, who is working as electrician with the Dhariwal Sugar Mill. They were initially reluctant to open up.

Darshan Kaur said she had been yearning for her husband’s homecoming. But, I could not contact him, since I was never aware about his whereabouts during all these years.”

Wassan’s mother Kulwant Kaur was a bit anguished over the way she used to be picked up by the police authorities time and again before the coming of the Shiromani Akali Dal Bharatiya Janata Party combine to power. “Though, I never knew anything about my son’s whereabouts after 1984, I would be picked up and grilled frequently. The same was the case with my other three sons. But things had come to normal and we heaved the sigh of relief after the Akali government came to power. Now nobody comes to our house for even questioning,” she said.

Wassan’s two brothers Sulakhan Singh and Balwinder Singh are truck drivers. The families of all four brothers live together in their house in a “dera” near the village.

Kulwant Kaur and Sukhwinder Singh said, “He never made a phone call or wrote a letter to us since 1984. We were not aware of his whereabouts. It was only about four months back that we come to know from his friend Jaswant Singh Jassa, who had come to the village from Germany that Wassan was making up his mind to come back from Switzerland.”

Kulwant Kaur, Darshan Kaur and Sukhwinder Singh asserted that Wassan did not own any hotel or any other property in any other country. “Had it been so, we would have multiplied the three acres of land in the village to at least 100.”

Roop Singh and Gurnam Singh, villagers, said it was a good news since they think it would enable Wassan to come back to his people and family. Navjot, a class I student and nephew of Wassan who was overjoyed over the arrival of some “guests” in the home said innocently, “Tau aayenge”.